Project Management Assignment: System Development and Analysis

This project management assignment delves into key aspects of project success and failure. It begins by evaluating five critical factors that contribute to project failure, such as lack of user involvement and unrealistic time scales. The assignment then moves on to the development of a bespoke system, including detailed task breakdowns, critical path analysis, and action plans to avoid delays. Further, it addresses the creation of a job description for a project manager, outlining key responsibilities and qualifications. The assignment also explores the potential financial benefits of a resource management system project and concludes with a stakeholder analysis and project management plan, including a probability/impact matrix and prioritized risks. The project involves the development of a resource management system for Biotech Inc., a rapidly growing biotechnology firm.

Project Management
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................3
TASK 1.................................................................................................................................................3
1 Evaluation of five factors which generally contribute to project failure......................................3
2. Development of bespoke system.................................................................................................4
TASK 2 ................................................................................................................................................6
1. Job description ............................................................................................................................6
2. Potential financial benefits from Resource Management System Project ..................................7
TASK 3 ................................................................................................................................................8
1. Stakeholder analysis for Resource Management System Project................................................8
2. Project Management Plan, probability/impact matrix and prioritized risks for the project ......11
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................13
References..........................................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Project management is an combination of process, skills, methods, knowledge and
experience that help in achieving objectives of project. It is closely associated with engineering
projects. It is a methodological approach to plan and guide project process from beginning to finish
(What is project management. 2016). Project management concept can be applied on any type of
project but it is most widely used to make control over complex project development. It brings a
unique aspect to shape the goals, allocation and effective utilization of resources and scheduling of
project plan. The following study is relating to understand the importance of project management in
industries and for this, some case studies have been taken into the consideration (Andersen, Dysvik
and Vaagaasar, 2009). The objectives that will cover during the research are theory, concepts and
role of project management within business and its operations, evaluation of intergrational
importance of project management and planning in organizations, its contribution in taking strategic
decisions, importance of team development and risk management.
TASK 1
1 Evaluation of five factors which generally contribute to project failure
In general, there are mainly most of the issues which are needed to address during project
life cycle. There are some common factors that responsible for success or failure of a project. A key
finding is that there is not only one element which reasons of project failure (Cervone, 2006). There
are number of determinants involve in occurrence of not achieving plan objectives. Here are five
common and important factors that are generally contributed to project failure are as follows.
Lack of user involvement: A project is delivering some outcomes to a particular service users. It
can be a piece of software, hardware or a new technology widget, the ultimate consumers for those
are customers (Why Projects Fail. 2016). To meet the expectations of end users, companies have
needed to increase users involvement by adopting various ways. The lack of end users
participation is proving fatal element for projects. Failure to passively engage with consumers can
leads to one outcome that is unable to meet the expectations of the users (Chiu-Chi and et.al, 2013).
Skills, knowledge and competency failure: These are most responsible elements that decided
whether the plan success or fail in near future. If a project lacks one out of three determinants to
perform work in appropriate manner than quality as well as productivity of task will become lower.
It will leads to increase the risk of failure of project plan (Darren, 2012). For example: Vasa is a
project name of Military vessel design and development of Swedish Navy. The reason of failure of
this project was lack of technical knowledge and prior experience of project team members. Along
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with this, breakdown in communication between team members and changes in the plan at middle
level of project work was also contributing in failure of Vasa Project (Swedish Navy. 2016).
Poor defined requirements: For the project manager, it is require to ensure primary requirements
of the plan in earlier time in detail manner. With the help of various methods and ways, the scope of
a project can be easily define (West, 2016). But, if project manager unable to enlisted requirements
of work than it will leading to project failure. Denver International Airport is one of example of
project failure. The original system was completely different and complex from planned system.
The reasons behind failure of this project was poor define requirements such as underestimation of
complexity of work, not set budget and scheduling of plan, no backup plans, complex architecture
etc (Denver Airport Baggage System Case Study. 2016).
Unrealistic time scales: An important duty of a project manager is effective scheduling of project
plan. Aspects that should be considered during scheduling of project are time frame, major
deliverables of work and milestones (Why Projects Fail – Top 10 Reasons. 2011). In project
management, it is considering most challenging job for a project manager. If a project plan takes
long time to complete and deliver the outcomes that it will no longer use for the organizations and
end users. Such type of situation creates due to setting of unrealistic time scales which become a
reason of failure of project (Dey, Clegg and Bennett, 2010).
Lack of resources: The need of resources are depending of size, nature and scope of a project. But,
there are some situations where the objectives of plan is not attainable because allocated resources
are insufficient (LIM, 2015). In this case, the deliverables of the project are not meet in effective
manner. For instance, a project has required a C++ skill programmer and the existing team members
of that plan are not having that skill. Therefore, the work will not be proceed in further direction
until the needed resources is provided (Greasley, 2007). Hence, the lack of availability of different
resources may leads to failure of project.
2. Development of bespoke system
a.
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Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors Early Start Late Finish Total
Slack
Requirement
Gathering 27 wks Mon
2/15/16
Fri
8/19/16
Mon
2/15/16
Fri
11/24/17 66 wks
Business Analysis 24 wks Mon
2/15/16
Fri
7/29/16
Mon
2/15/16 Fri 1/13/17 24 wks
Systems Analysis 21 wks Mon
2/15/16 Fri 7/8/16 Mon
2/15/16 Fri 7/8/16 0 wks
Coding 21 wks Mon
8/22/16
Fri
1/13/17 1 Mon
8/22/16 Fri 4/20/18 66 wks
Unit Test 22 wks Mon
8/1/16
Fri
12/30/16 2 Mon 8/1/16 Fri 6/16/17 24 wks
Module Testing 27 wks Mon
7/11/16
Fri
1/13/17 3 Mon
7/11/16 Fri 1/13/17 0 wks
Systems Testing 22 wks Mon
1/16/17
Fri
6/16/17 6 Mon
1/16/17 Fri 6/16/17 0 wks
User Acceptance
Testing 22 wks Mon
6/19/17
Fri
11/17/17 7,5 Mon
6/19/17
Fri
11/17/17 0 wks
Implementation 22 wks Mon
11/20/17
Fri
4/20/18 8 Mon
11/20/17 Fri 4/20/18 0 wks
Handover 23 wks Mon
4/23/18
Fri
9/28/18 4,9 Mon
4/23/18 Fri 9/28/18 0 wks
Earliest start Times (EST)
Activity Early Start
A 0
B 0
C 0
D 27
E 24
F 21
G 43
H 65
J 87
K 110
Latest Finish time (LFT)
Activity Late Finish
A 89
B 43
C 21
D 110
E 65
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F 43
G 65
H 87
J 110
K 133
Total Float on each activities D & F
Activity Total float = EST- LFT
A 62
B 19
C 0
D 62
E 19
F 0
G 0
H 0
J 0
K 0
Critical Path for the project
Critical path can be defined as sequential activities from start to end of the project. A single
project have more than one critical path. It helps in determining longest path and minimum duration
which are required for completing the project . Critical path for the current project is as follows:
Results
Activity Early Start Early Finish Late Start Late Finish Total float
A 0 27 62 89 62
B 0 24 19 43 19
C 0 21 0 21 0
D 27 48 89 110 62
E 24 46 43 65 19
F 21 43 21 43 0
G 43 65 43 65 0
H 65 87 65 87 0
J 87 110 87 110 0
K 110 133 110 133 0
Project 133
Table 1: Critical path
Critical activities Calculation of critical duration (Critical path)
C-F-G-H-J-K 21+22+22+22+23+23= 133weeks
As per the above calculation project will be completed in 133 weeks. It is the minimum time
for accomplishing whole projection. According to the above table total float for critical activities is
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0. It reflects that delay in these activities can affect the entire project in negative manner.
b. Action that operation manager could take to avoid exceeding the current length of the
critical path.
If there is a delay of 3 weeks in completing activity H then it will affects its next activities J
and K. To minimize the exceeding current length of the critical path, the operation manager should
reduce its preceding tasks duration so that bespoke development project can be complete within
given time duration.
TASK 2
1. Job description
As per the given case scenario, it has been found that Biotech Inc is a a world fastest
growing biotechnology firm. The issue arises within the firm at present time is its current resource
management system in not working well to perform basic functions (Knapp and et.al, 2010). In this
context, firm has decided to implement new Resources Management System Project by centralizing
all resource management working. The project sponsors, David and Liz wants a appoint a person
who can effectively lead new project. There are three options available in front of Biotech
company: appoint internal strong IT background, give in-charge to to someone who is familiar with
HR or hire a new candidate or expert from outside from enterprise (Kumaraswamy, 2011). The most
suitable person for new Resource Management System Project is appointing expert outside the
company. A job description for this is a as follows.
Job Title: Project Manager
Scope of position: The major responsibility of a project manager is development and
implementation of Resource Management System Project, monitor the performance of new system
and manage then changes within the plan (Levy, 2009).
Key responsibilities:
 Maintain of appropriate communication links and develop interfaces between different
branch offices of Biotech.
 Coordinate inputs and execute project plan.
 Establish and maintain scheduling of project plan.
 May provide trainings to IT and HR department staff members regarding use of new
system (Martin and Guerin, 2006).
 Track milestones of the project and evaluate completed tasks.
 Managing and controlling scope creep with the help of change management plan.
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Department organization structure
Reporting to: Project Sponsors
Position specification
Qualifications and certification:
 Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology or equivalent work experience.
 Master of Business Administration in Human Resource Management (Simmons, Bland and
Wojciechowski, 2012). Certification in managing information technology related projects
Knowledge and experience:
 8-9 years as a senior IT professional with experience of managing Human Resource
Management system.
 10 years work experience with developing of IT software (Walker, 2007).
 Good knowledge of different IT solutions and their applications within the organization.
2. Potential financial benefits from Resource Management System Project
As per the given case study, it has been explored that the present system of Biotech unable to
execute elementary roles such as new employee orientation, applicant tracking, employee security,
compensation, benefits management etc (Zwikael, 2009). But, the new system Resource
Management System is developing by considering all these aspects as an objectives. If the
following proposed plan implement in right manner then it will deliver various financial benefits to
Biotech Company. The new proposed system will help the firm in effective utilization of resources.
Along with this, it will assist in keep controlling over more or less allocation of different resources.
It will leads to minimize the wastage of various assets. The benefit of this is Biotech Company will
reduce its investment over buying of new asset (Andersen, Dysvik and Vaagaasar, 2009). It will
help in proper use of numerous resources so that business operations will run in right manner.
Beside this, the new proposed system project will enable the firm to increase the sales and profits of
Biotech because of right allocation of different kinds of resources.
TASK 3
1. Stakeholder analysis for Resource Management System Project
Stakeholder is a group of those person who are investing their money on a project of a
business with the intention of gaining extra benefits or good return on the investment. These are
also called interest groups affected by various decisions of the organizations (Cervone, 2006).
Stakeholder analysis is a process of determining group of people or individual that are likely to
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affect or affected by actions of a business. With the help of this, the impact of that activities on
stakeholders can be categorized into different segments. It is a systematic method to analyse the
power and interest of stakeholders (Chiu-Chi and et.al, 2013).
The given case study is based on Biotech Company that wants to introduce new system
within the workplace with the name of Resource Management System. There are various
stakeholders connecting with the firm such employees, customers, suppliers, distributors,
government etc (Darren, 2012). For analyse their power and personal interest in new project,
stakeholder analysis toll plays an important role. The benefits that will get from the following
approaches are as follows.
 Opinions of different stakeholders helps the company to give a new shape to Resource
Management System Project in early stage. The inputs of them will assist in taking the right
decisions and improve quality of project (Dey, Clegg and Bennett, 2010).
 The support of powerful stakeholders helps in arranging more resources to meet the
objectives of new Resource Management System Project. It will assist in make the plan
successful (Greasley, 2007).
 New ideas and opinions of the stakeholders will help in develop the actions plans to achieve
objectives of proposed project plan. Along with this, it also minimize the potential risks of
project failure (Hobbs, 2009).
The proposed project is relating to Resource Management System and Biotech Company
wants to introduce it at the workplace so that the available resources can be manage in right manner.
In this context, a stakeholder analysis for Resource Management System Project are as follows.
Key stakeholders
Title Organization Influence level Need\
requirements
Expectations Recommended
actions
CEO Biotech Inc Very High The all
business
functions in
Biotech will be
consolidated to
save the costs
and gaining a
corporation
between
It is expected
that effective
coordination of
CEO will help
in managing all
business
functions in
right manner.
Project sponsor
meet to CEO
on monthly
basis to know
about project
status.
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different
business
operations of
various branch
offices.
Project sponsor Biotech Inc High Perfectionist in
their work
because of
good verbal
and written
communication
It is expected
project sponsor
will manage
the impact of
scope, costs,
deadlines and
specifications
on project
plan.
Follow
appropriate
documentation
and reporting
standards for
project
communication
at different
level.
IT specialist Biotech Inc High Having the
good
knowledge
about
development
and working of
IT software as
well as
effectively
integrate all
departments
and offices of
company with
single server.
It is expecting
from IT expert
that he will
manage all IT
software in
effective
manner and
integrate new
Resource
Management
System Project
with the
existing one so
that business
operations can
be manage in
correct manner.
For developing
new project, IT
expert has to
develop a
proper
communication
with the project
sponsor and
Human
Resource
Manager.
Project Team Biotech Inc High Help in
developing
It is expecting
from project
Provide
training to
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new Resource
Management
System Project
as per the
findings of
issues in
existing
systems.
team members
to make good
coordination
between them
so that plan
can be
completed
within the give
constrains.
Along with
this, by giving
various ideas
during
development
of proposed
project plan, it
can be easy to
achieve
objectives of
new systems.
project team
members of
use of different
software.
Project manger Biotech Inc Very high Responsible
for managing
all the
activities of
Resource
Management
System Project
plan,
responsible for
scheduling and
allocation of
resources in
right manner.
It is expecting
from project
manager to
manage overall
project life
cycle in
appropriate
way.
Project
manager of
Resource
Management
System Project
should properly
document all
phases of plan
and minimize
the wastage of
resources.
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2. Project Management Plan, probability/impact matrix and prioritized risks for the project
Project Management Plan for Resource Management System Project:
Tasks Activities Duration in weeks
Identifying issues in existing system 1
Perform survey 2
Perform analysis 3
Create findings form analysis 2
Arrangement of resources 2
Allocation of resources 4
Distribution of roles and responsibilities 3
Develop design options 4
Drafting of design options 2
Review and final design document 2
Developing design of system 3
Testing of prototype 3
Checking of quality of design of software 2
Final review of prototype 2
Implementation 2
Evaluation and monitoring 3
Corrective actions 3
Release resources and transfer responsibilities 3
Handover of project to client 2
Project closer 4
Probability/impact matrix:
Probability/impact matrix plays an important role in project management that help on
determining those phases of project plan that contain some amount of risk. It is require to be
quantified (Kathy and Deborah, 2007). With the help of this tool, it can be easy to manage the risk
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